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Sharing their nest with a Hawk in need

Peter Hanlon

Hosts with the most: Cathy and Jim King gave towering young ruckman Max Bailey a place to stay, but got much more in return. Photo: Wayne Taylor

FITTINGLY, the first conversation Hawthorn had with Jim and Cathy King about taking a young recruit into their home was centred on size - because Max Bailey has become a huge part of their lives.

It was late 2005, and the Hawks were still based at Glenferrie Oval, barely a block away from the Kings, who knew the club's chief executive Ian Robson. They were told the newbie was 19, from wheat and sheep country in remote Western Australia, had lost his father when he was 10, and had never been to Melbourne.

''They liked the fact that we had children of a certain age, and all our kids are tall,'' Ms King says. ''My husband said, 'Why is it important that our kids are tall?'

Fortunately, the Kings have big hearts, too, because Bailey's football journey has tested even his gigantic resolve. Three times he has ''done'' a knee. He has endured three reconstructions and missed three full years. When his sixth season began in March, he had played just six games.

''I say to people he's like this great, big oak tree - it can bluster and blow and he hardly ever moves,'' says Jim King, who lauds Bailey's persistence and Hawthorn's faith. ''They recognised that he's got the right values - of perseverance, integrity, honesty.''

Ms King says the union was meant to be - the Kings had a dog named Bailey when Max first came to stay, and he shares a birthday with one of their sons. ''We had Justine, 18, Max, 19, Peter, 20, and David, 21,'' she says. ''Everybody was home then; our kids were all at uni. They used to call this place the 'Hotel King' - if James and I ever went away, the place would just fill up with kids.''

After a year or so, Bailey sheepishly said over dinner one night that he hadn't saved as much money as he'd hoped, and asked if he could stay for another year. A month later the first knee injury struck.

When he made his comeback with Hawthorn's VFL affiliate, Box Hill, he had a cheer squad of King offspring and their mates. Ms King was standing with Robson when Bailey went down right in front of them, clutching his knee. ''I started to cry,'' she recalls. When Bailey left hospital on crutches later that day, he was crying too.

By the time his other knee went, in the last round of 2009, he was living in a Caulfield share house known as ''The Church'', where he is ''house dad'' to five young teammates. The Kings offered him his old bed, but he picked himself up and started over.

Ms King can't fathom how he has remained so positive; Mr King remembers talking to him about coming back a third time, telling him it might be his last shot. ''He said, 'If it is, it is. I just think I can play.' ''

Of this Hawthorn has always been certain, and finally it is happening. The Kings were at the SCG in May for his latest return and for the next few games Ms King didn't watch anyone but Bailey, holding her breath all the while.

Last week, when Bailey's mother, Vicki, was surprised by her boss with a ticket to the semi-final against Sydney, the Kings insisted she should stay with them.

She is grateful for all they have done for her son, that his rough road was smoothed by a family's embrace.

The Kings have since hosted several other young Hawks, Ms King often taking them along when volunteering on soup kitchen duty. It has given the family a cherished perspective.

''The media put them up on a pedestal … worship the ground they walk on,'' she says. ''But here, they're just regular boys.''

Mr King says Bailey doesn't say a lot, but what he does say is smart and he is always respectful. ''We treasure it,'' he says of the bond. ''He's nicer to me than my own kids.''